Participant Photo: Northern Flicker male (Yellow-shafted)

This subspecies of Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) is rarely seen in our area in the west. However, this morning (on a count day!) we had two males visit the birdbath in succession. The first male took a drink and then moved to a nearby Palo tree trunk as the second one came in for a drink. The second one flew to top of the wall, flashing very bright yellow underwings-as bright as the sun! Both had red napes, black malar stripes and yellow shafts on the wings. Typically, we see the Red-shafted variety, with the red whisker (male) and red-colored underwings. This sighting was also posted to eBird.